


A Long Time Ago In Elemental Nations Far, Far Away

by LiveAndLetRain (CaraLee)



Series: The Legend of Naruto [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Basically Naruto Geography with Bending instead of Chakra, Fictober 2019, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, Parent Umino Iruka, Strong Haruno Sakura, and a few other things
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2020-11-27 07:41:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 7,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20944763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaraLee/pseuds/LiveAndLetRain
Summary: A non-sequential collection of mini-fics written for Fictober 2019 set in an AtLA AU of Naruto





	1. Teaching Methods

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt 6. "Yes I know, your point?"  
Wordcount: 288  
Ft. Kakashi and Tsunade, with a wild Sasuke appearing.
> 
> Many thanks to my beta, Nym_Pseudo, who continues to be one of the best things to ever happen to me.

“That’s not going to work with Naruto.”

Kakashi doesn’t acknowledge the earthbender standing on the ledge above him; focusing on Sasuke’s drills in the valley below. “Yes, I’m aware. Your point?”

Lady Tsunade snorts and slides down to sit beside the boulder he is perched on, squinting in the light of the rising sun. “Just wondering how you’re planning to tackle actually teaching him. I’ve never met such a slow learner.” She drums her fingers against the side of the boulder, cracks shivering through the stone.

“So the waterbender told me.” Kakashi answers. “Only I believe he phrased it differently.”

“Aw,” Tsunade sniggers. “Did he give you the ‘learns by doing’ lecture too?”

“Mm, something like that.”

The two of them sit in silence for a few moments, watching Sasuke throw kicks and punches and gouts of flame at the air with impeccable form. Behind them, on top of the small cliff, a high screech fills the air, followed by a small earthquake as Tsunade’s own student loses her patience with whatever irritating thing Naruto is doing this particular morning and makes her displeasure known.

The weight of all the years since last they spoke hangs heavy between them.

Sasuke leaves a scorch mark along the base of the cliff.

“So how _do_ you plan to teach him, brat?”

Behind his mask, Kakashi smirks, not taking his eye off Sasuke. “I believe I have just the way for our little avatar to ‘learn by doing.’”

Tsunade looks between him and his student, one perfectly shaped eyebrow arching in what might be amusement. “Once you think he’s ready, let me know. We can throw Sakura in there with them.”

Kakashi’s smirk grows just a little wider. “Might be interesting.”


	2. Priorities and Rice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto is bored

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 7. “No. And that’s final.”  
Wordcount: 509  
Ft. Naruto & Iruka, Kakashi cameo
> 
> Some very mild language. Iruka has a dirty mouth, he just doesn't actually say it out loud.

“Pleeeeeeeease?” 

Iruka didn’t turn around, knowing it would be that much harder to remain firm if he actually _ looked _ at the pleading blue eyes down by his elbow. 

“It isn’t safe, Naruto.” He says instead, choosing to focus on the pot of rice he’s trying very hard not to burn. (Cooking on a stove was hard enough, over a campfire is so much worse and they really can’t afford to lose any meals right now.)

“We’ll be _ really _ careful, promise!” Moon and Ocean he’s taken to _ grabbing _ Iruka. Bouncing up and down and yanking Iruka’s arm with him by the grip he now has on his elbow. Iruka has to drop the wooden spoon into the pot in order to keep from knocking the whole lot into the fire. 

Damn Hatake and his tendency to disappear. He is the best at pulling together an edible meal of the lot of them. Lady Tsunade didn’t even try, Anko was forbidden from setting foot anywhere _ near _ the cook-fire, and Iruka and Shizune were hit-or-miss. And with Shizune off in town doing reconnaissance and buying supplies…

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-”

“No! And that’s final!” Iruka pries Naruto off his arm and turns his sternest glare on the boy, partly as an excuse to make sure he is okay after his extended whine.

He is perfectly fine. Not even winded. Damn airbenders.

“But we really will be careful.” Naruto’s sad face is just as powerful as ever, but Iruka is hardened by long exposure. He can stand firm.

“We’ll stick together, and Sasuke and I won’t even fight!”

Iruka doesn’t even deign to respond to _ that _ improbable claim. He’s fairly certain that hundreds of years from now, Sasuke and Naruto’s reincarnations will seek each other out from the opposite ends of the earth for the sole purpose of arguing the merits of steeping tea for two minutes versus two and a half. Or whatever other unimportant detail the two are fighting over when they die of old age.

“Someone tried to kill you again, Naruto.” He says instead. “Yesterday. Anko and Master Kakashi still haven’t been able to find out who. It would be incredibly stupid to go into town for something like a _ festival _.”

Naruto grunts and flops over onto the ground to pout up at Iruka. “I’m tired of hiding and never getting to _ do _ anything. How am I supposed to be the avatar if all I do is run away?”

“You can’t be the avatar if you are dead, either.” Iruka feels compelled to point out, trying to pick the spoon out of the rice without burning himself. Where are the firebenders when you need them?

“But at least I wouldn’t be bored!”

“Of course, wouldn’t want to get our priorities confused.” Iruka manages to snag the spoon, but from the smell of the rice, he might be too late.

“Did you know you’re burning dinner?” Hatake slouches into camp as if he’d never left. 

Iruka considers his chances of successfully drowning an imperial firebender with what he has in his waterskin. Disappointingly low.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally didn’t write this partly as a way to vent my frustrations about trying to cook rice and I have no idea why you would think that.


	3. The Avatar Afterlife Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto changes things up a bit for his past lives. This is not a bad thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 13. "I didn't know it could be this way"  
ft. Naruto, Mito, Gaara  
wordcount: 491

“This is highly unusual.”

Naruto grins up at the dignified lady sitting across the table. “Aww, come on granny. It’s not so bad is it?”

Mito (who is not, in fact, his grandmother, but rather his great aunt twice-removed or some such, as well as a previous life of his) raises one perfectly arched eyebrow and surveys the room. “Usually, when an avatar interacts with their previous lives it is done one-one-one and the setting is much more...formal.”

“Yeah, I know.” Naruto shrugs. “The first time I talked to Bee it was like that. But I like this much better. All the mist and stuff was boring.”

“It has a certain charm, I suppose,” Mito says dryly as Yugito and Yagura roll by, trying their absolute hardest to strangle each other, despite both already being dead for centuries. Mito sips her tea and watches with mild curiosity. Her predecessor finally comes out of the corner he’d been hiding in and wanders across the room to join them, looking very bewildered.

The poor boy is terribly shy. And hadn’t been all that old when he’d died either. Not much older than Naruto is now, in fact.

He sits down on the floor next to Naruto, not taking his eyes off the rest of the room where a good half-dozen or so additional incarnations are engaged in various conversations and squabbles and, in the case of Rōshi and Utakata, a pai sho game. They sit in silence for a bit and Mito is reluctantly impressed by how Naruto restrains his usual exuberance in deference to the other Air avatar’s reticence. 

“I never knew it could be this way.” Gaara finally says, softly. “Mostly we just...existed here. In nothingness. It was lonely.”

Naruto leans in against his shoulder, blond hair mingling with red. His smile is a touch softer than his usual grin. It’s a good look on him, Mito decides. Just because she was not able to show such weaknesses very often in her life does not mean Naruto should not be able to be better.

“Yeah, well. Now you aren’t alone. Even if I’m not here all the time, you’ve got granny and the others!”

Mito should probably be less surprised at being volunteered. “As long as you do not call me granny.” she allows, sipping her tea again. “You are technically older than I am.” She still remembers the few, stilted conversations she’d ever had with her predecessor while accessing the avatar state in life. They had been very few and far between, as she reached adulthood and her mastery of her abilities far outstripped anything Gaara had ever been able to attain in his short life. She regrets now. Just a little bit. (Naruto has that effect, she has noticed. It is somewhat annoying and reminds her very much of her husband. If she didn’t have irrefutable proof that he is her own reincarnation, she’d almost believe he is Hashirama’s.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the dead days. I got stuck on Day 9. It done growed plot on me. It will be posted whenever I can push my way through all the emotions and actually finish the thing.


	4. Never Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In every atla-based universe ever, there is an old blind bender living in a swamp somewhere. It's just a matter of finding them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 14. "I can't come back."/"I cannot go back" (because we adapt, overcome, survive!)  
Wordcount 419  
ft. Iruka and Tobirama and Iruka's astronomical stress-levels

Iruka is very stressed.

He likes to think he usually holds it together pretty well, at least in front of Naruto. But Naruto isn’t here right now, he’s off meditating on push and pull which, given Naruto’s usual experiences with meditation, Iruka is pretty sure was just an excuse to get him away from the...house. (Hut. It’s a hut.) So Iruka is pacing. And maybe fretting. Just a little.

“Another band of mercenaries attempted to enter the swamp today.”

Iruka continues pacing. “So they know we’re here then. That’s the second try in three days. They wouldn’t send that many if they weren’t sure.” 

“Most likely.” The waterbending master steps up beside him, face turned out over the swamp. “They will not be able to reach you here. Not for now. But you should not linger.”

“Where are we supposed to go?” Iruka asks helplessly. “Master Jiraiya said it wasn’t safe to continue to the capitol to look for Asuma the way we originally planned, and Naruto has mastered airbending anyway. He’s still not mastered waterbending though.”

Master Tobirama hums, tilting his head to the side. His sightless red eyes seem to glow ever-so-slightly in the fading light reflecting off the swamp, and it combines with the ever-present mist about him and turns him into quite the eerie apparition. “He has learned enough of the basics that you should be able to well continue his education as you travel.”

“Me! But!” Iruka flails. “I’m not qualified for that!”

“You have done well in your own studies.” Master Tobirama replies calmly. “Never have I had a sighted student, much less an adult, who understood so quickly how to see through the water.”

“Why can’t you come with us! You are the best teacher he could ask for.”

Master Tobirama stiffens, almost imperceptibly, and his face shifts into what might be an embarrassed pout. “No.”

“Why not?”

“I cannot go back.” Master Tobirama is definitely flushing now. The red tint showing easily in his pale skin. “The outside world does not know that I am here. I  _ have _ to keep it that way.”

Iruka blinks. Confused. “Why?”

The aged master sighs, deep and weary. “Because I’ll never have another moment’s peace if Madara learns that I live.” He turns to Iruka and he is beginning to look somewhat frazzled. “He’ll come bursting in at all hours to drink my tea and complain about ‘kids these days’ and how standards have gone down and I  _ refuse _ to put up with that.”


	5. ETERNAL RIVAL!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes they get lucky and the people they encounter aren't trying to kill them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 15. "That's what I'm talking about"  
Wordcount: 501  
ft. Iruka's pov, Kakashi, Sasuke, Gai

As they collect more and more people it has become more and more difficult to pass unnoticed, but Iruka comforts himself with the knowledge that both Lady Tsunade and Hatake were quite capable of defeating most threats on their own, let alone together, or taking the rest of the party into account. (He’s fairly certain that once Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stop bickering like a bunch of kittens dumped in a bathtub they will be unstoppable.)

So when a small cloud of dust appears on the horizon and comes rapidly towards them Iruka’s reaction is less the wild panic of a year ago and much closer to a sort of tired resignation. (There’s still panic of course, but it is dulled beneath the weight of exhaustion and familiarity.)

How sad is it, he muses as he watches the cloud approaching, shuffling into position to defend from attack, that being hunted is  _ mundane _ to him now.

Sasuke, who has the sharpest eyes, is perched up on Hatake’s shoulders as soon as they become aware of the encroaching potential enemy. One hand up to shade from the sun’s glare as he studies the dust-cloud.

“It’s a small group.” he reports. “No more than half-a-dozen. On foot.”

Iruka eyes the cloud skeptically. “They are moving awfully fast for being on foot.”

“They aren’t big enough to be mounted.” Sasuke shrugs, not looking away from the roiling dust. He squints. “I think...the leader wears green? Head to toe.”

Hatake blanches. “Are you sure?”

Sasuke pauses a moment to study the oncoming group and then he actually  _ smirks _ and Iruka finds that perhaps more unsettling than anything else. “He does indeed.” He actually leans down over Hatake’s head to look him in the eye and his smirk turns into a full-blown bratty  _ grin.  _ It’s an almost painful reminder of the fact that none of the children are even fourteen yet. “There’s four of them.”

Hatake appears to be considering options. “We could still run.”

Sasuke hops down and actually sits cross-legged on the ground. “Why would we do that?” His grin has disappeared and he is now completely blank-faced, which is much more common for him

Hatake leans in over his student. “Neji. Hyuga.”

Sasuke’s eyes widen but before anything more can be said or explanations can be demanded a voice floats to them on the wind.

“ _ HELLOOOOOOO! WE HAVE FOUND YOU, MY ETERNAL RIVAL! _ ”

Hatake closes his eye and gives a sigh that Iruka is not sure how to interpret. Naruto is looking between his firebending teacher and fellow student with a look of great confusion. Sakura echoes him but Lady Tsunade and Shizune seem to understand a little better. Lady Tsunade looks downright  _ gleeful. _

And a large green blur  _ slams _ into Hatake, knocking him down and sweeping him up into the loudest, most tearful embrace Iruka has seen in his life. 

_ “AH YES! MY RIVAL! THAT IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! LET THE FLOWER OF OUR YOUTHFUL MEETING BLOSSOM!” _

What. The. Hell.


	6. Survival Skills

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In any universe, Team Seven is a bunch of overpowered dumbass feral children and we love them for it. (Also, the author discovers that writing in Sakura's pov can be a _lot_ of fun.)  
(Also also, the authors beta continues to be the actual best. Love you Nym!)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fictober Prompt 16. "Listen. No, really listen."  
ft. Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke (Kurama cameo)  
Wordcount: 1084

Sakura had hoped that the addition of another person her age to the party meant she would have an ally in the battle against Naruto’s...Naruto-ness.

Sasuke was  _ something _ all right but it was  _ not _ an ally. If anything he was even more annoying than Naruto, though at least he was quiet in the mornings. (Sakura was a morning person by force and by habit. Not nature. Naruto is too much to deal with in the morning.)

She spends a lot of time these days wanting to bury them both up to their necks (or deeper) in rock just to get a moment’s peace. And at this point she’s pretty sure the only person who would try and stop her is Iruka; and Sakura suspects he’d only interfere because he’d think he should, and not necessarily because he  _ wanted _ to..

Because if Naruto on his own is A Lot, Naruto and Sasuke together are An Abomination That Should Never Have Been Formed.

They. Never. Stop.

It seems that every moment of the day they are bickering over  _ something _ and Sakura is really starting to wonder if they actually  _ need _ the avatar. It’s not like the next one won’t pop up in a decade or so. And as for Sasuke…

The firelord has plenty of potential heirs. (Which actually seems to be the source of some drama and could possibly be  _ why _ the younger fire prince is running around the backwoods of Fire Country with only a single bodyguard, but it’s not like Sasuke or Master Kakashi have ever bothered to actually  _ explain  _ what is happening.)

All things considered, it's understandable that Sakura is wary at seeing Naruto and Sasuke crouched together, staring at something on the ground intently. Nothing that those two find mutually fascinating can possibly be a good thing. She approaches with caution, ready to smash whatever it is should the need arise. 

She really isn’t in the mood right now. They’ve been separated from the adults for almost two days and already there have been three different attempts on Naruto, (though to be fair, that second one might have been aimed at Sasuke) and one encounter with one of Master Tsunade’s creditors who thought they could kidnap Sakura and hold her for ransom to get their money back. The last thing they need is  _ more _ trouble.

At least not until they’ve found food or water. Preferably both. Sakura’s mouth is so dry she doesn’t think she could eat. She really envies Shizune her ability to pull water out of the air right now. Though given that they are on the border of the Wind Desert, there might not be enough water in the air for even Shizune to use.

“What are you two doing?” She snaps, once she’s standing behind them. Both boys jump and Sakura has to dodge the small burst of flame Sasuke throws at her. Naruto just flails and falls on his butt in the dust.

The world is so doomed.

“I hear water.” Naruto says, pointing down at the sand he and Sasuke were staring at. “Underground.”

Sasuke grunts. “And I told you, you’re hearing things. There’s nothing there.”

Kurama, perched in Naruto’s backpack, snarls at Sasuke.

Sakura, lured in despite herself, victim to her overwhelming thirst, crouches beside them, her gaze fixed on that same patch of sand. “You really think so?”

“Of course!” Despite being as dried out as she is, Naruto manages to muster his habitual enthusiasm from  _ somewhere.  _

Sakura punches him to shut him up, and Sasuke for good measure, and leans in close to listen. 

The sand crickets chirp loudly. The wind pushes the sand. And far up above, a hunting bird screams.

“I don’t hear anything.”

Sasuke smirks triumphantly at Naruto, who ignores him to lean closer to Sakura. “You gotta  _ listen. _ No, really listen.” He nudges her shoulder so she’s closer to the ground. “It’s down there, believe it!”

Sakura listens for another moment. “I still don’t hear anything, Naruto.”

Naruto flops back into the sand, looking disheartened. “Man, I wish Iruka or Shizune were here to tell us if there’s water.”

Both Sakura and Sasuke stare at Naruto in dumbfounded silence for a moment.

“ _ YOU IDIOT! _ ” Sakura shrieks, “ _ YOU’RE A WATERBENDER TOO! _ ”

“ _ Hn _ .”

“Oh.” Naruto blinks up at them. “Yeah. I forgot about that.”

Sakura screams in inarticulate rage and winds back to punch his stupid face in. Naruto sits up, waving his hands in front of his face, sheepish grin already plastered on. “Hang on, at least let me check and see if its there first, okay?”

“Fine!” Sakura lowers her fist and the grains of sand that had started levitating around her feet settle back to the ground. “But make it quick!”

Naruto scrambles back up to kneel in the sand across from her and closes his eyes. Frowning in concentration. 

Sakura sits back on her heels and waits. Sasuke stares at Naruto. Sakura stares at Naruto. Naruto frown harder and opens an eye. “This is kinda difficult with you guys just sitting there watching me.”

Sasuke rolls his eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to have mastered waterbending if you’re already learning earthbending.”

“Well yeah!” Naruto flails, waving his arms about, concentration completely abandoned. “I can do the big stuff no problem but the little fiddly stuff is hard. Iruka and Shizune are better at that! And you two staring  _ isn’t _ helping!”

Sasuke’s feet slide in the sand as he turns his back on Naruto. “Better?” He’s so sarcastic Sakura is a little surprised he isn’t breathing smoke again.

Naruto huffs and stares at Sakura until she rolls her eyes and turns around too. “Just hurry up, Naruto. We need to get moving.”

“Fine! Fine!”

Another long moment passes in silence and just when Sakura is about to give up, turn around, and slug him, Naruto jumps to his feet with a triumphant shout, showering sand down onto her and Sasuke. Yup. He’s going to have to die. Sorry world. Hopefully the next avatar turns out better.

“It’s there! I knew it! I knew it!” 

Five minutes later, after Sakura has opened a hole through the sand and Sasuke has blown it into a glass-lined tube so that Naruto can bend a stream up water safely up to them, and Sakura decides that maybe he can be allowed to live a bit longer. For now. She’s going to make sure to bend every grain of sand she has to get out of her hair into his pants though.


	7. Hey, Handsome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They survived the desert, now they have to survive dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fictober prompt. 17 "Secrets? I love secrets."  
wordcount: 968  
featuring: Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, and Surprise Guests!

Sakura is never, ever, going out in public with Naruto and Sasuke again. Ever. 

Revitalized by what they’d obtained from Naruto’s underground spring, the three of them made it to a village. If you could even call it that. Sakura lived in a small town before she started traveling with Master Tsunade and Shizune; this is more like a few huts clustered around a public fountain.

One of the huts was a sort of inn and they’d headed in there after they’d all but bathed in the public fountain. It was such a relief to be out of the sun that Sakura had let her guard down a bit.

That was her first mistake.

Her second was forgetting that Naruto and Sasuke in the general vicinity of other people never ended well. Or subtly. And really, the first clue should have been when the girl actually came over to them and draped herself over Naruto.

(Girls generally only come over to Naruto if they want something.)

Sakura realized something was going on when she looked up from her bowl of soup (supplied by Sasuke’s coin-purse) to see Blondie leaning over Naruto’s shoulder and winding her arms around his neck to say, high-pitched and giggly, “Well aren’t you a tall drink of water, handsome!”

Sasuke, next to Naruto, has his constipated face on, which generally means he doesn’t know what to do with the people encroaching on his space. One of the girl’s hands whacked him in the face when she threw herself at Naruto.

“Hi!” Naruto says, sounding somewhat strangled. 

“You’re new around here aren’t you?” The girl trills, wiggling her way in-between Naruto and Sasuke, nearly pushing Sasuke off his stool in the process. “What brings you to town.”

“Traveling.” Sasuke grunts, glaring at his own soup.

The girl ignores him. “So who _ are _ you?” She smiles at Naruto.

Naruto is full-on stammering, face bright red. Sakura pushes the bowl of soup back and gets ready to stand up and find out just what is going on.

“Secret.” Sasuke grunts. _ Extremely _ annoyed. (He’s very possessive of Naruto and it is equal parts cute and disturbing.)

“Ooooooo, secrets!” The girl says, smiling like a wolf-shark with too many teeth. “I _ love _ secrets. I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” She leans in even closer to Naruto, predator’s grin still fixed on her face. Sakura pushes over two grown men standing between her and her friends. She doesn’t pause to apologize, just curses herself and her desire for a moment’s peace that led her to take her soup to the other end of the bar.

“What makes you think we _ want _ to see yours?” Sasuke grumbles, somewhat louder than before. The girl turns her wolf-shark smile on him.

“But I wasn’t asking _ you _ now was I? _Your highness_.”

Sakura throws caution to the wind and pulls the stone of the floor up, ready to throw the shattered pavement at the girl’s head. Both Sasuke and the girl have pulled flame to their hands and Naruto has instinctively retreated to the top of the bar in a burst of air and is clearly gathering himself to launch an attack from above. Sakura reaches through the earth and pulls back to end this fight before it even begins.

And a gust of wind, not from Naruto, throws her stone weapons back to the floor, catching her by surprise. She barely has the time to locate the two boys closing in on them before they are upon her, the larger one swirling air around his arms and the smaller one ignoring her in favor of focusing on Sasuke.

His mistake.

The airbender pushes his advantage, using the air coiled around him the way Sakura has seen Shizune use water as a whip and she’s sparred with Naruto enough to know that for all its invisibility, air can cut just as deeply as any other element. It’s just harder to dodge.

The firebending girl is focused on Naruto again, and Sasuke isn’t moving. He’s straining and jerking and his eyes are wide and terrified. “Bloodbender!”

_ Oh _. Sakura leaps to the side, raising a shield of stone that is shattered by the airbenders attack. This won’t work.

Sakura can’t effectively fight what she can’t see or sense. She can only defend. She’s pinned down. Naruto is too easily put on the defensive by fire and Sasuke is already taken down unless…

Earthbending may not always require the same lung capacity as airbending or firebending, unless you have an inclination towards tunneling, but that has never stopped Sakura from being able to shriek loudly enough to be heard over the busiest crowd. And the inn is deserted now. The inhabitants fled the instant the rocks rose and flames appeared.

“_ NARUTO! TAKE THE BLOODBENDER! SASUKE, SWITCH! _” And Sakura leaps for the firebending girl, her own teeth bared.

The only one allowed to pound her friends into the dirt is her. Certainly no uppity noble Fire girl. (And she clearly is noble. Her long hair bound up only into a ponytail, her fine clothes. She probably recognized Sasuke on sight.)

Behind her, she hears Naruto fly straight for the bloodbender. They’ll be fine now, she knows. Naruto can combat bloodbending. His mysterious waterbending teacher made sure of it. And Sasuke can fight an airbender.

Time to focus on her own battle.

The other girl is taller than she. Better fed and rested. Not straight off a week of surviving on desert creatures and a handful of dried rations a day. But Sakura has been traveling with the avatar for almost a year now. And with Master Tsunade for two years before that. She is a fighter down to her bones and into her roots. She will _ not _ give ground to some brat with a pedigree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's right, its INO-SHIKA-CHO!


	8. Gathering the Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt 22. "We could have had a chance"  
Word Count: 597  
Ft. Sakura, Shizune, Tsunade, Iruka

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM ALIVE!!!

“Aw, c’mon, Shizune!” Master Tsunade complains as Shizune pulls her out of the gambling den, Sakura sticking close on their heels with their bags. At this point, she knows the drill. It’s been more than a year since she started traveling with and training under Master Tsunade. And this is a scenario that repeats every few weeks or so. 

“_Shizune!_”

Including the whining.

“I had a streak going. We could have had a chance!”

Shizune and Sakura exchange skeptical glances and keep walking.

“Excuse me?”

Sakura doesn’t _think _the man standing awkwardly a few paces down the road is someone Master Tsunade owes money to. But it’s hard to be sure sometimes. Master Tsunade has the unique ability to owe _everyone _money.

(When Sakura had voiced this opinion Shizune had scolded her and said that was an exaggeration. But she’d looked kind of constipated when she’d said so, and Sakura is pretty sure she agrees.)

He doesn’t _look _like someone Master Tsunade would owe money to anyway. Usually, the ragged, dirty ones travel in packs. They are usually really loud and rude too.

“Are you the earthbending master, Lady Tsunade Senju?” the stranger looks kind of dubious which, you know, fair enough. Sakura is still a bit offended though and glares at him.

Master Tsunade teeters a bit on her feet but sets her stance and stands upright, shaking off Shizune’s concerned hand-fluttering. “I am. Who wants to know?” Her face is still flushed but every other sign of her intoxication has vanished.

The man looks nervously at Shizune and Sakura before looking back to Master Tsunade. “I...um…” He rubs the scar across his face before dropping his hands to fiddle with the strap of the water pouch that lays across his chest. A waterbender like Shizune maybe? “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

With a stomp of her foot, Master Tsunade raises earth walls and roof around the four of them, completely enclosing the alley in stone. “Talk.”

He looks at Sakura and Shizune again. “Um, I was sent by the waterbender who lives in the swamp between the Land of Storms and the Land of Fields.”

Master Tsunade freezes, and then slams a hand against the wall behind her, opening a door. “Sakura, Shizune, out.”

“Master Tsunade-” Shizune starts but Master Tsunade cuts her off sharply, intently focused on the man standing at the other end of the enclosed alley.

“Out.”

They obey and end up squashed between the wall of the building and the wall of the enclosure as Master Tsunade and the man with the scar on his face talk. After a few minutes, Sakura decides that she’s not a fan of being trapped like a bug and pushes herself up to the domed top of the enclosure and carves out a niche in the wall of the building to sit in. It has the side effect of leaving more space for Shizune on the ground.

She swings her feet, her heels leaving dents in the brick wall while Shizune takes an inventory of her poisons. 

They all have their nervous habits.

The enclosure drops back into the ground at the same moment that several of the thugs working for the owner of the gambling ring round the corner. Master Tsunade punches without even looking at them and the ground rolls like a wave, knocking them from their feet and burying them in the rubble. She drags the man over towards Sakura and Shizune as Sakura drops down to the ground.

“Alright, waterbender,” she tells the man. “Take us to the avatar.”


	9. Priorities and Rice: Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This picks up directly where Priorities and Rice leaves off.

Hatake saunters over to the fire with Pakkun on his heels, both of them seemingly unaware of the firebenders impending demise. He peers into the pot, leaning over Naruto’s untameable fluff. It crowds Naruto a bit closer to the fire than Iruka is comfortable with and he pulls Naruto closer to himself, not bothering with subtlety. At this rate, it won’t be an assassin who kills the avatar, it will be the avatar’s own firebending master.

Speaking of-

“Did you find anything?” He has to nudge Naruto to the side a bit so he can continue trying to salvage what he can of the rice, but it moves the boy further away from both fire _and _firebender so it all works out.

“Nothing,” Hatake responds, much more serious than his usual drawl. “Vanished like mist in the sun. Anko is checking the perimeter.” His single visible eye flickers around the campsite. Iruka feels much better, knowing that he was indeed following up on the assassination attempt from last night and not just avoiding work. (You never knew with the firebender.)

“Shizune went into town for supplies and Master Tsunade took Sakura down to the river to train.” Iruka supplies, guessing at who he’s looking for. “Sasuke decided that he would rather go with them then stay here.” 

_ “With Naruto_” goes unsaid. For all that Sasuke is a firebender and may rise with the sun, his attitude most assuredly does not. Iruka, who grew up surrounded by them, has never met a single firebender in his entire life who was so decidedly _not _a morning person. Including Anko. Naruto, on the other hand, _ is_. (And Iruka, with his waterbender’s inclination towards the night, has suffered it for many years and is rather more sympathetic to Sasuke in this case.)

It might be just his imagination, but Iruka thinks Hatake relaxes just a little. 

“And they left the two of you up here alone?” _ Or not. _

“We’re within shouting distance.” Iruka points out. “Especially with Naruto’s lung capacity.”

“_Hey!_” Naruto protests, proving Iruka’s point perfectly. 

“And I am hardly defenseless.” Iruka pulls a stream of water from the teapot boiling across the fire as evidence. He curls the stream through the air for a second before returning it to the pot, steam trailing behind the whole way.

“And I can _ fly_.” Naruto practically yells in Iruka’s ear. “Why does everyone keep forgetting that?”

Hatake doesn’t even blink. “We’ll remember when you can do it reliably and on command.”

Naruto wilts and Iruka feels like he should defend him but he also kind of agrees with Hatake. Naruto learning that he can fly, with limited success, has been the single most stressful thing in his life ever since Master Jiraiya first pushed Naruto off a cliff. And yes, he’s counting the sporadic assassination and kidnapping attempts in that. 

Naruto leans in towards the cooking pot and Iruka elbows him back. “Are we even going to be able to eat that?”

“Hey!” Iruka pulls the spoon out of the pot to brandish at Naruto. “Like you could do any better.” 

“How can I, you won’t let me!”

“Naruto,” Hatake says mildly. “Why don’t you and Pakkun go get the others for breakfast. I’m sure they’re hungry.”

Naruto looks suspicious but sulks off towards the river anyway, the hedgedog trailing behind him, leaving Iruka and Hatake alone in the camp. Iruka begins scraping the rice into the bowls already set out. The first couple are easy to fill with the rice from the center of the pot, but the further he goes the more he has to struggle with just how much of it is burned and stuck to the side of the pot. Resignedly, he heaps his own bowl with the scorched crust from the outside.

“You’ll only damage him in the long run.”

Iruka almost drops his bowl in the fire. “What?”

Hatake’s amber eye is hard as stone. “Fire is part of his nature; you are crippling him by keeping him from embracing it.”

Iruka is unable to do anything but stand and stare at the firebender. “What are you _ talking _ about?”

It takes less than a step for Hatake to be standing directly in front of him, far too close for Iruka’s comfort. Before Iruka is even sure what he’s doing, Hatake has grabbed his arm and is pushing his sleeve up to his elbow, baring his forearm.

And the shiny, patchwork scars that mark it.

“You fear fire,” Hatake says bluntly. “And you try to keep Naruto from it.”

Iruka yanks his arm away, pulling it tight against his chest. He barely keeps his hold on the bowl of scorched rice. “I do _ not _ fear fire.” He meets Hatake’s eye and wishes the force of his glare was enough to burn a hole through someone’s head. 

“You constantly put yourself between him and fire.” Hatake counters, returning the glare. Iruka wonders if _he _actually _can _burn a hole through someone’s head. “You disapprove of my teaching him. You are afraid and he knows. So he avoids it.”

He takes yet another step closer, so they are practically chest-to-chest. “Unless Naruto understands fire, he will never be a fully realized avatar and he will _never _be safe. His sensitivity to _ your _ hangups is putting him, and the _ entire world_, in danger.”

“That’s not-” Iruka closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, reigning in his anger. Losing his temper will not help this situation at all. He leans back the slightest bit before he opens his eyes, so there is just that much more space in between them and meets Hatake’s gaze as evenly as he can. “It’s not about the fire. Not really.”

“Oh?” How Hatake manages to convey so much condescension with one word and only a quarter of his face visible Iruka will never know but the urge to forgo bending and just punch his stupid nose is overwhelming. 

“I grew up in Fire Country, I’ve been surrounded by fire and firebenders all my life.” Iruka points out, biting back his frustration. “If I was afraid of it I’d never have left my house.”

“You grew up in Sarutobi’s holdings,” Hatake says blandly. “A clan whose vassals have the lowest Fire population and highest Water and Air of any clan in Fire Country.”

“What does _ that _ have to do with anything?” Iruka demands, exasperated. “Actually, you know what, don’t answer that.” He puts up his free hand to stop Hatake from speaking.

“It’s not that I am afraid of fire,” he says slowly, feeling the words out as he goes, struggling to articulate the knot of emotions that took up residence in his chest the night that Mizuki attacked them, back when everything started. “Not in and of itself. But…” he trails off, gesturing a bit helplessly with his bowl of scorched rice. “So many people expect so much from him now. I can’t protect him from many of his enemies, but I can protect him from tripping into the campfire.”

“He’s not a child anymore,” Hatake says harshly. “He’s the avatar.”

“He’s both,” Iruka snaps, shoving the firebender back a step. “And _someone _needs to treat him like it! It might as well be me!”

He picks up another bowl and shoves it into Hatake’s chest, stepping around him as the sounds of Naruto’s yells announce the return of the rest of the party. “Eat your food.”

Hatake gives him a skeptical look but takes a bite of the rice while Iruka is turned away. The visible portion of his face goes immediately blank and Iruka’s heart sinks. “What’s wrong with it?”

Hatake chews thoughtfully behind his mask. Swallows. “There is a certain taste to it…” He takes another bite, contorting himself ridiculously to get the rice behind his mask without spilling it or revealing his face. Iruka gives up.


	10. Enter Shisui

Sakura is rapidly coming to the conclusion that all firebenders are insane, it’s just a matter of what form their insanity takes.

Master Kakashi, for example, is Weird Insane. Sasuke is Sulky Insane, and Sasuke’s great-uncle Madara is Grumpy Insane but also a little bit straight up Crazy Insane. (It had been really funny at how freaked out he was when Naruto told him that Mito said hello, though.)

This new firebender though, he’s kind of creepy. Because if Sakura has learned anything from all her travels, its that the people who are Cheerful Insane are the ones most likely to try and kill you. And it's really hard to believe his claim of being related to Sasuke when he’s so friendly. At least Lord Madara had made _sense_. 

“So you’re Sasuke’s cousin?” Naruto asks suspiciously. 

Shisui shrugs, still smiling. It’s weird. At least he doesn’t look too much like either Sasuke or Madara. Sakura isn’t sure how she feels about the thought of a Sasuke who smiles so often and so big. “More or less. Technically I’m the Firelord’s cousin, which makes me Sasuke’s first cousin once removed.”

Naruto just stares, he probably got lost somewhere around “technically.”

Master Kakashi sighs, sounding very put out. “Why are you even here?”

Shisui beams at him, “I was in the area you see. And I heard rumors of a fire prince traveling with the Avatar, figured it was worth checking.” He shrugs, running a hand through his curly hair, knocking his hand against the hilt of the sword strapped to his back in the process. “Not the prince I was hoping to find but it is good to see that you and Sasuke are doing well, Commander.”

Sasuke has his arms folded over his chest and is still sulking over the way Shisui had greeted him by lifting him up in a sloth-bear hug and then ruffling his hair while cooing over how much he’s grown. Sakura mostly ignores him, as she usually does when he gets into a snit.

“Still no sign of Prince Itachi then.” Master Kakashi says.

“Nope!” Shisui beams brighter. Sakura wonders if it is possible for firebenders to set things on fire by smiling. “There were whispers though, about a noble firebender traveling with a waterbending swordsman.” he glances over at Iruka. “You aren’t a swordsman by any chance?”

Iruka shakes his head. “No.” He seems just as suspicious of the Cheerful Insane as Sakura is. At least someone else has some common sense. (Anko, on the other hand, keeps _leering _and it’s gross. But she’s also a firebender, and therefore Insane, so it's to be expected.)

“I’ll track them down eventually. There aren’t many benders that also use weapons.” Shisui doesn’t seem all that stressed about it and Sakura doesn’t seem to be the only one who thinks so.

“You don’t seem too fussed for someone trying to track down the missing heir to the throne,” Anko says, her leering focusing into something sharper. 

“Itachi is, as far as we know, in no danger.” Shisui tilts his head to the side. “At least, not more than he would be in the capitol. Probably less.”

Sakura steals a glance at Sasuke, who’s sulk has shifted to a scowl, and Master Kakashi, who is just as unreadable as usual. 

“So it’s true,” Iruka says. “The succession is in question.”

Shisui crinkles his nose and makes a wobbly side-to-side gesture with one hand. “Eh, less that it's ‘in question’ and more like the people who should get it don’t want it and the people who do want it shouldn’t get it. If you ask me,” he says in a tone that makes it clear no one has and he is very offended by this. ”I think they should just give the golden throne to Izumi but unfortunately she tied with Obito for last place in the running according to the fire sages.”

“They want you to stay the heir if they can’t get Itachi and Sasuke isn’t old enough, don’t they.” Master Kakashi says, amused. 

Shisui flops to sit on the grass beside Sasuke with a long, drawn-out groan. “It’s _awful_. Auntie Mikoto keeps pushing me to study more and dropping hints about finding ‘a nice firebending girl to settle down with’ and Uncle just _looks _at me all disapproving and gives long-winded speeches about how back in his day all this gallivanting around wouldn’t be tolerated and how none of us understand duty and he actually _said _in front of Auntie that Izumi wouldn’t be as good of a firelord because she’s a girl and he continues to completely ignore Obito’s existence but it doesn’t really matter because Obito has been acting _weird _since you left and everyone expects me to fix it all but the whole thing is _stupid. _”

He throws his head back to bewail his suffering to the sky. “If Itachi would just come home for long enough to be formally recognized as heir I’d be off the hook! Uncle suggested taking me out of the Imperial Guard so that I could ‘focus on diplomatic preparations’ or some such ridiculousness. And the Hyūga and Shimura clans are circling like vulture-wasps, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to plop their own candidates for the throne down and secure power.”

Master Kakashi hums, sounding faintly amused. “So Gai says.”

“See,” Shisui points up at him from the ground. “This is why people punch you a lot. You enjoy their suffering way too much.”

Master Kakashi doesn’t seem inclined to deny the accusation. “Do you have a plan or are you just running around the elemental countries hoping you find something?”

“I don’t like your tone,” Shisui says mildly. “And running around the elemental countries hoping to find something is totally a plan. It’s not like I’ll ever be able to _out-think _Itachi. Not on purpose.”

Sasuke snorts in agreement. Shisui doesn’t pay him any attention beyond an absent wave in his direction. “I’m heading out towards wave country next. There are rumors of a hidden temple near the coastline that sound promising.”

“That old thing?” Naruto chimes in, disgruntled. “I don’t know why so many people keep getting excited about it. It’s just a bunch of old statues.”

Iruka sighs and Sakura thinks he sounds more tired about Naruto’s denseness then he does about the constant murder attempts. “A bunch of old statues with eyes that light up when you step into the room, Naruto.”

“Yeah, but that’s just avatar stuff!”

Master Kakashi closes his single visible eye, probably praying for patience. Shisui looks bewildered and also concerned about the fate of the world. _ Welcome to the club, _ Sakura thinks viciously.

“I want to go with you, cousin,” Sasuke announces. “At least you are marginally intelligent.”

Shisui looks severely offended as if Sasuke has just insulted his honor. “I’ll have you know that I can be a dumbass if I want to!”

“Just if you want to?” Sakura turns sharply to stare at Master Kakashi, but he steps forward as if he wasn’t insulting members of the Imperial Fire Family under his breath. Though to be fair, they are also insulting each other.

“So will you travel with us for a time, or leave immediately?”

Shisui sits up and hums thoughtfully, propping his chin on his hand. “As much fun as it would be, I think I’ll have to decline. I really do need to check out that temple. If I don’t find the little nerd there I can swing back around and meet up with you outside Tanzaku-Gai?”

Master Kakashi considers for a moment, exchanges a look with Master Tsunade, and nods. “It's a sound plan, as long as we aren’t identified.”

“Great!” Shisui swings himself up to his feet and ruffles Sasuke’s hair one more time. “If you can wait for me I should be there in ten to twelve days, depending on who I meet.”


End file.
